6 unexpected positive results of GDPR

13 November 2017

GDPR is the latest buzzword. Everyone is very busy becoming GDPR compliant by May 2018. Or is being frightened by the apocalyptic warnings from various GDPR-consultants. GDPR will of course have a (heavy) impact on your company. But we have also identified a couple of unexpected positive results.

1. GDPR makes sure you know who’s really interested

GDPR forces you to ask active consent from all your (existing) contacts, so that you are allowed to send them any information in the future. Don’t be alarmed by the response when you do: chances are very real that you end up with only 10 to 30 percent of your existing database (depending on the quality of your content and database). Should that bother you? Not really. Because isn’t it better to send mails to those people that are really interested in what you are doing, than to a crowd that never opens your mails anyways? GDPR makes it clear to marketeers that quality is more important than quantity. And that they will have to convince (future) customers to give consent with good content and a good story.

2. GDPR makes sure that your information is finally looked at

Today marketeers are thrilled with opening ratios of 30% and click ratios of over 5% for mailings. A logical consequence of the “quantity over quality”-rule that still guides many contact- and marketing databases. Thanks to GDPR you will see those ratios go up quite a bit. That makes sense, because you have an audience that really is interested in what you are doing. So the bar can be raised. What do you think of striving for opening ratios of over 80 percent for example?

GDPR makes sure you can stand out

A good approach of GDPR and the necessary transparency towards your contacts can be a distinctive factor setting you apart from your competitors. When you clearly indicate how important privacy is to you and are transparent about how you use data, it will lead to more trust and customers that are (more) loyal. That is the difference between implementing GDPR because you have to (and mostly behind the screens) and implementing GDPR because you want to, and showing it off.

GDPR makes sure that IT security is improved

In many companies, IT security is still the Cinderella of the family. The reporting requirement in case of hacks makes sure companies spend more attention, time and budget on security. A development we can only applaud.

GDPR makes sure you get quite a lot of discounts

Because it won’t be easy for marketeers to convince contacts to give consent, they will probably try to tempt you with discounts. You’ll probably be getting mails in the near future along the lines of: “20% discount for six months if we can still mail you”. Any bargain hunter can sign up for mailing lists with many addresses in the hopes of receiving those discounts.

GDPR makes sure you save (a little) money

That may sound weird when you’re trying to tell everyone how much it will cost to become GDPR compliant and how high the fines are if you don’t. But nobody tells you that you can also save here and there because of GDPR. Just think of:

A lower expense for mailing and marketing automation tools that work based on the number of contacts (believe us when we say your database will become a lot smaller!)

You won’t buy any (expensive) databases to reach your target market. That will now depend on your creativity.

IT security may cost money, but in the long run, you save money by avoiding or limiting data loss, viruses, ransomware and hacks.

To still reach contacts who didn’t give consent, you can still fall back on print media, ads, SEO and SEA. Before you spend any money on that, you always have to ask yourself one questions: why don’t those contacts give consent?